Michael Blake: Afrikosmos

Featuring

Antony Gray
Michael Blake

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Composer's Artistic Vision

The album Afrikosmos was modeled after Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos, a compendium of compositional techniques that greatly influenced Michael Blake as a young musician.

Compositional Technique

The 75 pieces in Afrikosmos are arranged into three hour-long programs, covering various levels of difficulty and exploring themes like 'song', 'homages', 'popular music', 'patterning', 'cycles', and 'musical nuts and bolts'.

Compositional Technique

Afrikosmos explores traditional African music techniques such as the anhemitonic pentatonic scale, Xhosa bow harmony, the hexatonic bow scale, interlocking, and polyrhythm.

Performer Biography

Antony Gray, the pianist on this album, is an Australian virtuoso based in London who has championed contemporary music and neglected composers, with a prolific recording career for ABC Classics and Divine Art.

Composition History

Afrikosmos was conceived in 2015 during a residency at the Bellagio Rockefeller Center and completed five years later in June 2020.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Michael Blake, a white South African-born composer, forged his compositional identity by studying new music languages and forms from South Africa and elsewhere, much like composers such as Bartók used indigenous music.

Composer Biography

Michael Blake, the composer, lived in London for 20 years before returning to South Africa and has since been involved in post-apartheid New Music initiatives, including joining the ISCM and setting up a new music festival.